Blog of Funk

the every day story of the smell of sex

Monday, September 01, 2008

Everyone's Best Mate

He is held in affection and esteem. The comfort of that kind face, the open-hearted honesty, the modesty, the easy charm and the wit. An admirable, talented, popular man, made more so by his obvious vulnerability.

Apparently hiding nothing, holding nothing back, so easy to relax in his presence, they say, should you ever meet him, except for a certain awkward shyness. He witnesses vagaries of human behaviour by dint of an essential consumptive intimacy, and all of the above attributes command a deft ability to slip beneath the surface of people and into their affections.

He shares all, yet he says little.

Should you ever meet everyone's best mate, be very, very careful what you say and do. Be on your guard, no matter that you are feeling the urge just to be yourself. Do not look too deeply past the light playing on the surface of the water. Do not point out the stones on the river bed. Do not say, water has a soft and gentle surface, but to breathe it is to drown.

Whatever you do, avoid direct competition, or anything that might be interpreted as such, which will draw unpredictable sniper fire. He who lives with contradictions, fights with contradictions.

Do not try to compete with a liquid version of truth, even with your own demonstrable clarity, as logic will not serve you, because reason has no place to enter.

If you remain calm, you will be cold and heartless, and if you show your passion, you will be dangerously enraged and irrational. If you ask for proof, once it is given you will be in debt. If you seek to prosper soberly, you will be taken by drunks as a madman. If you get drunk, this will be the proof of your inner chaos, moral decay and secret vices.

Ozzie Rozzie, misfit country boy, confronts bullying with unexpected consequences, in this short story set in 1970s London suburbia. "Your details were dynamic and filled with imagery... the pacing magnificent.. Thank you for this wonderful story." - ME Strauss